Jerry: Romo Will Play If He Can Handle The Pain

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Tony Romo has a cracked rib and a punctured lung, cringe-worthy injuries for sure, but his status for the Dallas Cowboys’ week three match-up with the Redskins next Monday night remains up in the air. Basically, according to owner and general manager Jerry Jones, if Romo can stand the pain he’s sure to feel--you know, the pain of playing football with a freaking cracked rib and punctured lung--he’ll play.

"I don't know. I really don’t,” Jones said of Romo’s status in his biweekly radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday, per the Dallas Morning News. “I understand the nature of the injury as much as you can without being in medicine. We'll just have to see how it goes. It has everything to do with just his ability to handle the pain, and we know he has a bunch of it."

According to the team, Romo’s CT scan on Monday revealed evidence that he may have suffered a pneumothorax--which, Wikipedia tells us, “is a collection of air or gas in the pleural cavity of the chest between the lung and the chest wall.” Dr. Mark Millard, the director of the Baylor Foster Lung Care Center at Baylor, told the DMN that, though the condition is known to heal rapidly, Romo would do well to sit out if the condition lingers into next week.

"It really boils down to what Romo says about his pain level and how active and mobile he is going to be," said Millard. "Obviously if he has a medically-severe condition like a pneumothorax, he's not going to go on the field. But if he does not have a pneumothorax and if he is able to handle the pain, he will be out there next week."